Congress, already divided between the House and Senate, becomes further departmentalized at the committee level. Standing committees are simply those that are permanent. The party with the majority in the chamber of Congress earns the chairmanship and majorities on the chamber’s committees. The top spot for the committee member of the minority party is called the Ranking Member.
Committees are divided to utilize specializations and knowledge of its members as it pertains to a certain area of focus, as well as view legislation before to debate, amend, or table it before the legislation can advance to the floor of the chamber for a vote from all representatives.
While standing committees are permanent, there are several other types of committees and caucuses that serve numerous purposes in Washington. Each committee also has certain subcommittees that are composed of members of the committee at large. In two separate columns, we looked at ten standing committees of the U.S. House. This week, we’ll explore a few more.
House Administration
The House Administration Committee was established in 1947 to better facilitate and modernize the internal management and operations of the U.S. House. The committee primarily has oversight over federal elections and day-to-day House business, with more recent committee activities navigating technological upgrades and security improvements on Capitol Hill. The committee also has jurisdiction over appropriations accounting, employment of House personnel, the Library of Congress, the House Library, purchase of works of art for the Capitol, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and the Smithsonian Institution, among other initiatives.
The committee is divided into three subcommittees. Due to the committee’s small size, it didn’t have subcommittees for most of its existence. The Elections and Oversight subcommittees were created in 2007, and abolished during the 113th Congress (2013-2015). The Elections Subcommittee was reestablished during the 116th Congress.
The Elections Subcommittee handles election observation, federal management and modernization of elections through funding for apparatus, such as voting machines, and deliberates issues of election integrity and states’ rights within the scope of federal elections.
The Modernization Subcommittee simply handles matters of modernizations in the House and the Legislative Branch.
The Oversight Subcommittee has oversight of congressional security, accountability of the legislative branch security and operations, and safety apparatus.
The committee consists of twelve members: eight Republicans and four Democrats. Bryan Steil (R, WI-01) serves as Chair and Joe Morelle (D, NY-25) serves as Ranking Member.
Judiciary Committee
The Judiciary Committee is essentially referred to as the “lawyer” of the U.S. House. It has jurisdiction of justice in federal courts, administrative bodies, and law enforcement agencies. The committee also has outsized importance in impeachment proceedings, although these rarely occur.
Since its founding in 1813, the committee’s oversight has expanded from legislation regarding judicial proceedings to civil and criminal judicial proceedings at the federal level, bankruptcy, terrorism, espionage, defense of civil liberties, constitutional amendments, immigration and naturalization, interstate compacts, national penitentiaries, presidential succession, antitrust legislation, revision and codification of U.S. statutes, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and claims against the U.S.
The committee is divided into six subcommittees and one select subcommittee.
The Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust handles matters of bankruptcy, commercial law, independent counsel, state taxation affecting interstate commerce, antitrust legislation, and interstate compacts.
The Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government has oversight of constitutional rights and amendments, federal civil rights, voting rights, claims against the U.S., non-immigration private claims bill, ethics in government, tort liability, and federal charters of incorporation.
The Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet has oversight of administration of the U.S. Courts, the Federal Rules of Evidence, Civil and Appellate Procedure, judicial ethics, copyright, patent, and trademark laws, and Information Technology.
The Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance handles matters of the Federal Criminal Code, the administration of justice, federal prosecutors, drug enforcement, sentencing, internal and homeland security, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, prisons, and the use of surveillance tools by federal law enforcement.
The Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement has jurisdiction over immigration and naturalization, border security and drug interdiction, admission of refugees, treaties, conventions, and international agreements, and private immigration and claims bills.
The Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight has oversight of the responsiveness of agencies, departments, and entities to oversight requests of the committee and its subcommittees. It also handles operations of the committee’s congressional liaisons and offices of legislative affairs with regards to enacting, changing, or repealing any legislation within the jurisdiction of the committee.
The committee has a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Formed on January 10, 2023, it was established to investigate alleged abuses of federal authority, including collusion between federal agencies and private-sector entities to suppress viewpoints. The committee has broad authority to subpoena law enforcement and national security agencies.
The committee has forty-four members: twenty-five Republicans and nineteen Democrats. Jim Jordan (R, OH-04) serves as Chair and Jerry Nadler (D, NY-12) serves as Ranking Member.
Natural Resources
The Natural Resources Committee has broad jurisdiction over fisheries and wildlife, including research, restorations, refuges, and conservation; forest reserves and national parks created from the public domain; forfeiture of land grants and alien ownership; the Geological Survey; international fishing agreements; irrigation and reclamation; military parks and battlefields, national cemeteries administered by the Department of the Interior, parks within the District of Columbia, and the erection of monuments to the memories of individuals; mineral land laws and claims; general mining interests; mineral resources on on public lands; oceanography; marine affairs and coastal zone management; petroleum conservation; preservation of prehistoric ruins and objects of interest; public lands; the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline (except ratemaking), and relations between the U.S. and Native American tribes.
The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources oversees energy production and onshore and offshore mining on federal lands. It handles planning for the development of renewable energy, all matters affecting geothermal resources, marine hydrokinetic energy development, leasing, development, and conservation of fossil fuels, carbon dioxide sequestration, all matters relating to the U.S. Geological Survey, mining interests, conservation of the U.S. uranium supply, geospatial data collection and management, helium supply and management, transportation of natural gas and oil within Alaska and the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, environmental protection, and general land use.
The Federal Lands Subcommittee handles matters relating to the National Park System, the National Wilderness Preservation System, the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, the National Trails System, and other national heritage areas, military parks, battlefields, and cemeteries, outdoor recreation plans and programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 and the Outdoor Recreation Act of 1963, preservation of ruins and historic sites, public lands with respect to entry, easements, withdrawals, and grazing, land grants and alien ownership, and forest reservations.
The Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee has oversight of measures relating to Native American welfare, management of Indian lands, all matters regarding Native Alaskans and Hawaiians, and all matters of relations between the U.S. and Native Americans and tribes.
The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee has oversight and investigative authority on all activities, policies, and programs within the jurisdiction of the committee, with respect to the departments of Interior, Energy, Agriculture, and Commerce.
The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries handles matters of electric power generation, matters pursuant to the Water Resources Planning Act, use and apportionment of interstate waters and water rights, the Endangered Species Act, Indian water rights and settlements, activities and programs of the Water Resources and Ecosystem Areas, fisheries management and research, management of all commercial and regulation fisheries, international fisheries agreements, aquaculture, seafood safety, fisheries promotion, protection of coastal and marine environments, estuarine protection, coastal barriers, oceanography, marine sanctuaries, and U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea.
The committee is composed of forty-five members: twenty-five Republicans and twenty Democrats. The committee is notable for its membership of delegates from four territories: American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Bruce Westerman (R, AR-04) serves as Chair and Raul Grijalva (D, AZ-03) serves as Ranking Member.
Oversight and Accountability
This committee’s broad jurisdiction and legislative authority makes it one of the most powerful bodies of the House. The Chair is one of three House committee chairs who can issue subpoenas without a committee vote or consultation with the Ranking Member, although unilateral subpoenas are not typically practiced.
The committee has jurisdiction over the federal civil service, holidays and celebrations, government management and accounting measures, national archives, population and demography with respect to the U.S. Census, the postal service, public information and records, reorganizations in the Executive Branch, and the relationship between the federal government and states and municipalities.
The Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation has oversight of IT data, standards, quality, infrastructure, and acquisition, as well as emerging technologies, privacy, cloud computing, and data centers.
The Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs has oversight of income inequality, policies that affect middle class growth, including education, housing, labor, trade, small business, and agriculture; securities regulations; consumer protection; private sector IT security, policy, and management; and telecommunications.
The Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce has oversight of the federal civil service, including compensation, classification, and benefits; federal property disposal; public information and records pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Presidential Records Act; government reorganizations and operations, with respect to transparency, performance, grants management, and general accounting measure; and the relationship between the federal government and states and municipalities, including unfunded mandates.
The Health Care [sic] and Financial Services Subcommittee has jurisdiction over federal healthcare policy, food and drug safety, federal entitlement programs, monetary policy, banking, tax policy, and oversight over the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
The Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs handles matters of national security, homeland security, foreign operations, U.S. relationships with foreign nations, immigration, defense, Veterans’ issues, and oversight over federal acquisition policy relating to national security.
The committee has forty-seven members: twenty-six Republicans and twenty-one Democrats. James Comer (R, KY-01) serves as Chair and Jamie Raskin (D, MD-08) serves as Ranking Member.
